Philly Leader

KANSAS CITY -- Taijuan Walker witnessed Friday night what many American League pitchers have seen all season. When navigating through the heart of the Royals’ batting order, caution is necessary.

Walker was unable to hold Kansas City down early and lasted just three innings in the Phillies' 7-4 loss at Kauffman Stadium. It was the third inning that proved particularly challenging for Walker.

With the game tied at 1-1, six of Kansas City's first seven batters in the frame recorded a hit. The only out in that stretch was Bobby Witt Jr.’s groundout to shortstop, which came off his bat with an exit velocity of 114.6 mph. There were also two-run homers by Salvador Perez and Hunter Renfroe as the Royals used that five-run inning as their springboard to a series-opening victory.

Walker was charged with six runs off eight hits in his three innings, and the Philadelphia offense didn’t have the firepower for a big comeback.

“It wasn’t good,” Walker said. “Getting behind [in counts], giving up the home run ball -- it just hasn’t been good lately. I want to help the team as much as possible. Obviously, we aren’t playing great. It would be nice if I could pick the team up, and I haven’t really done that. So it’s frustrating.”

With the Phillies’ loss and the Braves' win over the Nationals, Philadelphia's lead in the National League East is down to five games.

Manager Rob Thomson said he was encouraged by an uptick in Walker’s velocity but noted that command issues were holding back Walker.

For the most part, opposing hitters have been able to lay off Walker's splitter -- easily his best pitch in past years -- when it finishes out of the strike zone. And when he pitches behind in the count, an inning such as Friday’s troublesome third can spiral quickly.

“He gets behind and then he has to come to the middle,” Thomson said. “That’s when it gets him. The split was OK, but a lot of times, they take it and it’s out of the zone. He has to get that in the zone.”

Walker threw first-pitch strikes to 10 of the 18 batters he faced. While that's on par with league average, he said he’ll continue working on not putting himself in 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1 counts.

“I know that I’m better than this,” Walker said. “I’ve proven it before. I just have to keep my confidence and know it’s going to turn around.”

Walker’s ERA jumped to 6.26, including 9.76 in three starts since returning from injury list (IL). The Phillies have lost each of his past eight starts. Asked if Walker will make his next scheduled start, Thomson said, “We haven’t talked about it yet.”

The Phillies had a golden opportunity to take a lead in the third inning after tying the game on an RBI single by Brandon Marsh and having runners at first and third with nobody out and top of order coming up. But Kansas City starter Michael Wacha struck out Kyle Schwarber before getting Trea Turner to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Philadelphia got at least one hit from its last seven hitters in its lineup but Schwarber and Turner were a combined 0-for-10 with six strikeouts at top of order after managing just six runs in their three-game series against Atlanta earlier this week.

“I thought our at-bats were a lot better tonight,” Thomson said. “I didn’t think we chased as much; we used field tried manufacture runs.”

With a 13-22 record since July 11th Phillies will welcome back left-hander Ranger Suárez on Saturday hoping All-Star left-hander can provide boost while Walker goes back working on command issues plaguing him all season.

“You see him out there bullpen between outings working things,” catcher J.T Realmuto said “He’s working find command get back attack.”